Our manufacturing and sales business began in 1954 in Wakayama, the birthplace of the synthetic dyes industry in Japan, when we developed azo organic pigments via the diazo and coupling reaction.

We continued researching the diazo and coupling reaction, successfully developing, manufacturing, and selling disperse dyes in 1966 and reactive dyes in 1982.

For the past sixty-five years we have continued the pursuit of new dyes and pigments, resulting in a lineup including cationic dyes, solvent dyes, direct dyes, acid dyes, and indanthrene dyes.

In 2002 we developed, then began manufacturing and selling disperse dyes textile inkjet ink (for sublimation transfer printing), based on the culmination of techniques used over many years in dyes and pigments.

We subsequently poured efforts into not just dyes and pigments, but also inkjet ink, and we currently develop, manufacture, and sell disperse dyes ink (for general use), reactive dyes ink, acid dyes ink, and printing pigment ink.

Our company creed of'moral education, creation, and service'is always in mind as the entire Dyestuff Division works together to contribute to society and customers of the world by providing a rich array of colors.

There probably aren't very many people who have heard of 'dyes' from which the Dyestuff Division takes its name, or 'pigments' which is the starting point of Kiwa Chemical Industry.

Below is a simple explanation of both dyes and pigments.
Both dyes and pigments are substances with color, and by soaking colorless items in these products, the item gains color.
(All products in the Dyestuff Division are organic compounds.)

To make a long story short, most of the things you see around you are colored by dyes and pigments.
(Clothing, foods, homes, newspapers, magazines, street signs, etc.)

Although we might not hear the words 'dye' or 'pigment' very often, at Kiwa Chemical we believe it is thanks to these that we are able to live in such a wonderfully colorful world.

As explained above, dyes and pigments are substances with color.
The dyes and pigments handled at Kiwa Chemical Industry are all organic compounds, and there is no clear difference in their chemical structure.

One way to classify dyes and pigments is the difference in solubility in an organic solvent.
Via this method, dyes and pigments can be classified in the following ways.

･Dyes --> Something that is easily dissolved in water or organic solvent
･Pigments --> Something that is not easily dissolved in water or organic solvent

The dyes and pigments handled in the Dyestuff Division are classified in this way.

A variety of dyes are handled in the Dyestuff Division, such as disperse dyes, reactive dyes, cationic dyes, solvent dyes, direct dyes, acid dyes, vat dyes, etc.

Although these dyes are naturally classifiable from their chemical structure, we'll try focusing on the items we want to dyes (materials) for purposes of classification this time.

･Polyester --> disperse dyes
･Acetate --> disperse dyes
･Cotton --> reactive dyes, direct dyes, indanthrene dyes
･Hemp, rayon --> reactive dyes
･Acrylic --> cationic dyes
･Silk, wool --> acid dyes, reactive dyes
･Nylon --> acid dyes, reactive dyes
･Leather --> acid dyes

Take a look at the material of your clothing. When dyeing clothes, only dyes and pigments that match the materials are used.
Although there is no example above, solvent dyes are used for plastics (resin) and direct dyes are used for paper. Pigments are used with a binder for dyeing various materials.

The techniques cultivated by the Dyestuff Division over the years in handling dyes and pigments have culminated in inkjet ink for textiles.

Although inkjet ink is quite familiar to us all, its use in textiles is probably a new concept for most people.

The inkjet ink for textiles developed by the Dyestuff Division is not for printing (coloring) paper, but for use on polyester and cotton fabric, etc. (textiles).

The textile printing width on most specialized printers is about two meters.

The type of ink can be selected to best match the type of textile (material) you want to dyes.

･Polyester --> disperse dyes ink
･Cotton, hemp, rayon --> reactive dyes ink
･Silk, wool --> acid dyes ink, reactive dyes ink
･Nylon --> acid dyes ink, reactive dyes ink

Printing pigment ink contains a binder for dyeing various materials.